This is essentially what I wrote on my facebook page after hearing the news. I was reminded in a couple of private messages that "Zimmerman considers himself Hispanic". I took down my message a few minutes later because I really didn't know how to properly respond at the time and wanted a few minutes to process that aspect of this case. 90 minutes later, I think my response should have been simply "I don't think that makes a difference." George Zimmerman can consider himself anything he wants, but really the only thing that really mattered is that Trayvon Martin was a young black male. See the photos and analysis of What would have happened if the Victim were White and the accused were Black.
We are going to see but my prediction then when I first heard about this case as it is now is that George Zimmerman is going to be a martyr/folk hero for Fox News, the NRA, the Tea Party and every right wing fringe group in this country. Now because of this trial I had to tell my 14 year old black nephew that once again he's got to face that fact that despite him being a smart, personable, courteous young man he's still facing challenges that I didn't face. Not only does he have folks that are obviously going to see him as suspicious because he's wearing a hood, but they can shoot and kill him and not a damn thing will be done about it. It's just another reality.
So I say all this to say this was 100% predictable. The prosecution was more inept than Marcia Clark, Christopher Darden and Barney Fife rolled into one. And Zimmerman didn't exactly have Johnny Cochran, F. Lee Bailey, Bob Shapiro, Barry Schenk,Robert Kardashian, or Ben Matlock at his defense table. There was no straw man argument that even needed to be made. And while I've heard a lot of street lawyer analysis in the past few weeks say that this was payback for O.J. Simpson, I don't agree one bit. O.J. Simpson was retribution for Rodney King if anything by the people in the same state. This was more of a systematic payback for the general feeling of "white man falling down" that was exacerbated by the election of Barack Obama. The prosecution had no chance of getting close to beyond a reasonable doubt with the demographics of this jury and so we are left with an aftermath that we can only hope and pray stays civil. I think we are for the better in having social media readily available where folks can vent their frustrations. You can turn to twitter, facebook or blogs where you can work out your feelings in a constructive manner that did not exist twenty ago.
My first angle when writing this diary was that Florida really should have never tried this case. I don't think that's really the case but I knew going back to last year and seeing the bumbling fumbling investigators that the prosecution would be inept and the defense attorneys didn't have to be the Cochran dream team that I referenced above. Even though much was made about the senseless ludicrous knock knock joke by Zimmerman's attorneys during venire I knew it also made a point. You couldn't avoid knowing about this case. The jurors had already dialed it in before they even sat down because this case had everything to do with race.
So maybe this isn't any different than what anyone else has to say at the moment. I don't come here to blog that often anymore, but after discussing with my wife and a few friends I felt that I need this forum. Thanks for listening.